You're Not Going to the Movies Tonight, Are You?

On Wednesday, I saw a "free screening" of the Steven Spielberg remake of 1961's "West Side Story."  Before we go on, let me make two assumptions: 1) you've seen the 1961 "West Side Story," and 2) you've seen remakes of at least some movies.

Tonight is the official opening (the one that's not free) of the remade "West Side Story."  You might know about this.  You might be anticipating this opening.  You might be planning to go, either tonight or some other time.  So, let's talk.

No one in the world will dispute that "West Side Story" is a classic.  It was Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim at perhaps their best.  It was a great movie.  Is it dated?  Sure it is.  It's now 60 years old, and it was not dated at the time.  My guess is that almost all of the performers -- certainly the main characters -- are now dead.  Except for Rita Moreno, who has an important acting role in the remake, and was one of the Executive Producers.  It turns out that setting aside anything else, Rita Moreno has a bit of an axe to grind about the '61 movie: she is in reality Puerto Rican, she played the second leading female part (behind Natalie Wood, who played a Puerto Rican woman and was not Puerto Rican), and Rita Moreno was required to use make-up to darken her skin a bit, to make her more conspicuously Hispanic.  She still views this as racist.

So, let's talk about the remade "West Side Story."  I haven't seen the original since maybe around the time it came out, but as I recall the details, the remake is the same story as the original.  The music is the same, although replayed by current musicians.  And somehow not as prominent.  (If you're asking me if I think someone toned down Leonard Bernstein, yes, that's what I think someone did.  If you're thinking "but this is a musical, and the music was a central point, and no one should tone down the music," I won't disagree with you.)  I didn't detect any changes in the lyrics, but I read somewhere that there were some minor adjustments.  What I noted was the word "fuck" a few times in the remake.  I don't remember that from the original.  I don't mean "hey, Officer Krupke, krup you."  That was preserved.  It was somewhere else.

In my opinion, the remake was what I call overproduced.  There was too much stuff in it.  There were too many people in it.  The dance at the gym was horribly crowded.  Tempos were adjusted, to make them more dramatic.  And those are the least of the problems.

Parts of this movie were in Spanish.  With no subtitles.  I've read Spielberg's explanation of this bizarre decision, and he claims it was his effort to be respectful to Hispanic people.  I don't object to Hispanic people speaking Spanish, or French people speaking French, or Russian people speaking Russian.  But if you're making that into a movie, which you're going to show in the United States, and which some people who don't speak those languages have to pay to see, then it seems to me you have to let them know what's being said.  Spielberg had to decide whom he was willing to disrespect.

I wish I could ask Rita Moreno what was going through her mind.  No, no darkening make-up for her this time.  She played the part of an old Puerto Rican woman whose gringo husband had died, and who now owned by herself the hardware store where Tony worked.  I don't know if the woman who played Rita Moreno's old part -- Anita -- wore darkening make-up, but if she didn't, she didn't need any.  She was the darkest of all of them, except the very few African-Americans.  And the dialogue continued to refer to mainland Americans as "white."  Rita Moreno's whole complaint about racism came crashing violently down.  If she, as an "Executive Producer," had no more influence than that over Spielberg and whomever else, she should have quit.  I was 11 in 1961, and I don't remember having been offended.  I was offended this time.  If the point of Moreno's complaint was to reduce stereotyping, and racist portrayals, I agree with her.  This remake failed badly to do that, even setting aside that that was the whole point of "Romeo and Juliet" and "West Side Story."

The singing was mostly good, or good enough.  The dancing was mixed.  So was the choreography: some was great, and some barely passable.  The acting was variable, with some of it -- Riff and some of the others -- having been excellent, and others of it having been weak.  The guy who played Tony is very good-looking, and he's a nice singer.  But he's a bit of a stiff as an actor.

The costumes were good, and sometimes excellent.  The dresses and frilly skirts on the women were very colorful, with nicely textured fabrics (great effect in the dance moves and some of the other actions), and they looked every bit as sexy as you would have expected them to.

The setting was still '50s NYC, including old cars and contemporary styles.

The bottom line is this: I have no worldly idea what led Spielberg to want to do this remake, and I wish he hadn't.  He added nothing at all, and some of his decisions made things worse.  It is extremely rare that a movie remake is not worse than the original.  'Nuf said?

Now, if you want to watch something very interesting, watch a movie called "Across the Universe."  It's a novel story, and the music is Beatles music.  There are considerable, and very interesting, adjustments made to how the music is performed.  I forgot at the moment if my copy is on videocasette or DVD, but I'll be happy to loan it to you.  Do yourself a favor regarding the "West Side Story" remake, though.